Dating back to the 15th century, American Indians played lacrosse. The game's main purpose was to settle tribal disputes and more importantly, to prepare and toughen warriors for battle. Legend has it that team selection and victories were supernaturally controlled. Equipment and players are still ritually prepared by ceremonies that resemble those practiced before departing on the war path. Non-Indians witnessing this game likened the sticks used to play the game to the "crosier", which were carried by bishops as a symbol of their office. Hence the name lacrosse. In the 1800's in Montreal, non-Indians took up the game lacrosse and has since been designated as the national sport of Canada. The United States, England, Ireland, Scotland and Australia all play lacrosse and compete on the international level. Touted as the fastest game on two feet, lacrosse is considered to be an arduous test of strength and endurance.
Due to its cold winter weather, Canadians also participated greatly in the sport of ice hockey, which is considered to be the fastest game on two skates. Obviously, since ice hockey is placed on ice, it's playing time is limited to outdoor rinks or ponds in cold weather, as well as indoor rinks both in warm and cold weather. However, due to the rapid increase in popularity of ice hockey, particularly in the United States, rink time is often difficult to obtain and is limited in nature.
The invention of inline skates brought the world the ultimate cross training mechanism for ice hockey. Although conventional roller skates have been used to play a floor version of hockey, inline skates most closely simulates the moves on ice and the uncompromising maneuverability that makes ice hockey so fast and exciting. Now a viable sport in its own right, and the fastest-growing team sport in America at the present time, inline roller hockey has captured the majority of the inline market.
The organizations that support the sport of inline hockey have nurtured the ranks of recreational skaters to skilled team play with future opportunities at the college level and professional sports.
Aggressive skating is one of the fastest-growing individual segments of inline skating. Freeform dance of risky "aggressive" tricks are performed on rails and ramps with ballet-like motion on inline skates. The sport is urban, extreme and artistic, exuding an attitude emulated by today's youth.
Applicant has developed a sport and a playing surface on which the sport is to be played. This sport as well as the playing surface are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/112,477, filed Jul. 9, 1998 , U.S. Pat. No. 5,906,595 and U.S. Ser. No. 09/112,476, filed Jul. 9, 1998, U.S. Pat. No. 5,993,735.
This sport is played on a unique playing surface or bowl combining the half-pipe concept of inline skating with the traditional rink playing field of hockey, with the exception that the periphery of the playing field would be curved rather than straight, which is conducive to inline skating. An upper deck planar surface would be provided between the curved ramp surface and the boards which surround the playing surface of conventional roller hockey or ice hockey rinks. The main level playing area would utilize the same floor markings as roller hockey.
The sport would be played by a team of players endeavoring to propel a ball into one of two goals situated on the playing surface. Each player would be equipped with a lacrosse-type stick having a head net portion connected to an elongated handle.
Typical lacrosse stick heads are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,591,178, issued to Milligan et al; U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,434 issued to Taylor et al; U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,372 issued to Brine II, et al; U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,297 issued to MacNeil; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,568,925, issued to Morrow et al.
However, due to the differences between lacrosse and the sport created by the Applicant, typical lacrosse-type sticks would not be adequate for the newly developed sport. For instance, since the ball would be advanced by tossing it in the air from one teammate to another, as well as rolling the ball on the playing surface, the standard lacrosse stick must be modified to allow the ball to be struck by the lacrosse stick head as well as allowing a player to scoop the ball from the playing surface and into the netted lacrosse stick head.